'I probably spent more as an individual than anybody else in the United States has ever spent on this subject,' he claims.

Cue the "X-Files" theme music. According to a major space industry CEO, there are aliens among us and they may have been living among us for quite some time now.

Robert Bigelow, who recently gave a wide-ranging interview to "60 Minutes," is the CEO for Bigelow Aerospace, an American space technology startup company based in Las Vegas, Nevada, that manufactures and develops expandable space station modules. One of those modules, known as BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module), is currently attached to the International Space Station.

Bigelow talked in-depth about the new race for space — the commercial race between private companies — but he didn't have a tight lip when it came to questions about his steadfast belief that there is life elsewhere in the universe and that some of these aliens visit Earth.

"I'm absolutely convinced," he told interviewer Lara Logan. "That's all there is to it."

"There has been and is an existing presence, an ET presence [on Earth]. And I spent millions and millions and millions — I probably spent more as an individual than anybody else in the United States has ever spent on this subject."

Bigelow's belief is apparently rooted in personal experience. His fascination with UFOs began after hearing a tale from his grandparents, who claim to have had a UFO encounter once while driving outside of Las Vegas.

“It really sped up and came right into their face and filled up the entire windshield of the car,” he said. “And it took off at a right angle and shot off into the distance.”

He also claimed to have close encounters of his own, but clammed up a bit when it came to details about those. Whatever you want to make of Bigelow's claims, he's not just another alien conspiracy theorist. He has three Space Act agreements, whereby Bigelow Aerospace is the sole commercializer of several of NASA's key expandable module technologies, and has realistic plans of setting up veritable "space hotels" where future tourists (terrestrial or otherwise) can go on vacation in orbit.

According to Bigelow, though, you may not have to pony up for a room in space if you want to meet ET. You can already do that here on Earth.

"You don't have to go anywhere," he claimed. "It's just like right under people's noses. Oh my gosh. Wow."